One in Christ by baptism, each of us is called to holiness of life. Saint Paul calls Christians “saints.”1 This is neither hyperbole nor presumption. It is a simple statement that God’s plan, mission and purpose in creating human beings is to make them holy. “Be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect,” Jesus tells […]

Eucharistic Teachings
Eucharistic Teachings · July / August 2018
Remembering Paul VI (1963-1978)
Giovanni Battista Montini was a conciliar bishop before the council. As pope, he was charged with the task of implementing Vatican II’s program and shepherding the Church through turbulent times. “When Cardinal Montini became Paul VI, this meant that one of the most thoughtful and determined of the moderately progressive conservatives was now pope.” (Adrian […]
Eucharistic Teachings · July / August 2018
Poor at Heart
How can we be happy or blessed when we lack? “Blessed are the poor at heart, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3). Poor in fact, but also poor at the deepest level of personhood, is what Christ is talking about. Some have translated this as “Happy the destitute, the miserable,” which is […]
Eucharistic Teachings · May / June 2018
Frank Sheed on the Eucharist
Frank Sheed was a devout Catholic, a street preacher, an apologist, a publisher, and a theologian. The Eucharist was central to his teaching, as it is central to the life of the Church. F. J. Sheed (1897-1981) was a popular twentieth-century Catholic lay theologian, public speaker, publisher, translator, and apologist. He was born in Sydney, […]
Eucharistic Teachings · May / June 2018
Body of Christ: Say Amen
By baptism, we are incorporated into the church, the body of Christ. Communion deepens that union as we are progressively transformed into the very mystery we receive. This article is a follow-up on my reflection “The Eucharist and the Unity of the Church” in the January/February 2017 issue of Emmanuel. The article explored the subject […]
Eucharistic Teachings · March / April 2018
G. E. M. Anscombe on the Eucharist
G. E. M. Anscombe’s Catholic faith informed her reasoned search for truth and enabled her to remain true to the highest standards of her profession. G. E. M Anscombe (1919-2001) was a British analytical philosopher and a staunch defender of the Catholic faith. She was born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1919, graduated from Sydenham High […]
Eucharistic Teachings · March / April 2018
To Pray Is to Become What God Is
Prayer is essential to a vital relationship with God. All religious traditions teach this. But what is prayer, and how can we deepen a life of prayer and contemplation? In any religion, nothing is more fundamental than prayer or communication with the transcendent, at least for those religions which posit a personal, intelligent Supreme Being. […]
Eucharistic Teachings · January / February 2018
The Oxford Movement, Edward Bouverie Pusey, and the Eucharist
John Henry Newman and Edward Pusey in the nineteenth century and Geoffrey Rowell in the twentieth stand as great ecumenical witnesses. “Pusey’s sacramental mysticism sometimes drew near to ecstasy as he used biblical imagery to tell of dying and rising with Christ in baptism and continuing in relationship with that body of Christ through the […]
Eucharistic Teachings · January / February 2018
Revisiting Roger Haight
It is in the Eucharist that we experience the power of the risen Christ, just as did the early Christians on the road to Emmaus.